Survey Shows: Local Residents Still Value Housing
February 1st, 2012 categories: Chicago Real Estate News
Housing values in Chicago continue to fall. Foreclosures remain high. It’d be understandable if fewer local residents aspired to owning a home.
However, a survey from the Illinois Association of REALTORS® shows the opposite: The vast majority of Illinois residents still want to own their own homes.
According to the survey residents, an amazing 82 percent of respondents said that owning a home remained an important part of the American dream. A total of 75 percent of respondents said that owning a home was a safer investment than was putting money in the stock market.
In a result that may seem surprising, considering how dramatically home values have fallen in Chicago and across the state, 61 percent of survey respondents said that it was better to own a home than rent.
Of course, the economy and its problems have had an impact on the housing market in Chicago and the rest of the state. That may explain why only 48 percent of survey respondents said that owning a house is a major benefit for long-term investment in their futures.
Still, the results of the homeownership survey are amazingly positive, even during the worst housing market that Chicago and the rest of the nation have seen in decades. It just shows how important the idea of owning a home is to most people.
This is probably because housing has value beyond the financial. Ideally, we want our homes to increase in value and become good financial investments. But our homes are also an escape from the rest of the world. They are the places in which we watch our children grow up. They are places filled with happy memories.
In short, homes are special. They are more than just investments.
This explains why even in the most challenging of economic times, the dream of owning a home remains a dear one for the vast majority of local residents.
